


The Hippopotamus

by destihecker



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A FUN FACT:, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Sorry about that!, Yikes, hippopotamus plushies, i genuinally didn't realize that the prompt "i want a hippopotamus for christmas" was a song, still i hope you enjoy!!, until after i'd finished writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5431661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destihecker/pseuds/destihecker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war has yet to heat up in Oz, so Charlie and Dorothy are able to focus on the little things: like Christmas. And hippos. </p><p>Written for skittythegreat on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hippopotamus

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize if the setup seems unrealistic considering the war scenario.

Since arriving in Oz, Charlie got exactly what she’d always craved.

A quest.

Fighting the war (or, revolt, as they called it at the time) for the Emerald City had only just begun. The situation had yet to pick up much steam, so she and Dorothy did have some down time. They’d even managed to secure a place of residence. A home that had briefly been Dorothy’s, but left vacant for decades. The cleanup had been massive, but nonetheless: it was a home.

“Dorothy!” Charlie called from the bottom floor of the three-story house. Three stories or not, it was a small space. Round, accented by a spiral staircase running through the center. Tables crowded the home, although many were bare.

“Yeah?” Dorothy replied, making her way down from the second floor. Charlie smiled up at her girlfriend.

Her _girlfriend_. Holy shit.

Charlie couldn’t help but grin wider at the thought. “I was thinking,” she said as Dorothy approached her. “It’s almost Christmas. We should celebrate.”

Dorothy frowned. “Charlie-”

“Like, I know it won’t be the most convenient… thing, but I think we can pull it off. I mean, there’s a huge forest right behind our house, right? We could get a tree, and-”

“ _Charlie_ ,” Dorothy cut in. She sighed. “I haven’t celebrated Christmas since I was a kid. I wouldn’t even know where to start. And then there’s the revolt, of course. Listen, I’m sorry. I really am. I just don’t think it would work out.”

Charlie crossed her arms and frowned. “I haven’t celebrated Christmas since I was a kid, either. I think that’s why I want to give it a go so much, y’know? But that’s cool, I mean. I understand. Hey, not to blatantly avoid this conversation or anything, but I think I’m gonna take a nap.”

With that, the redhead practically sprinted toward the stairs. “Charlie…” she heard Dorothy sigh from behind her.

Charlie fled up the staircase, not-so-subtly attempting to wipe tears from her eyes using her forearm. Why was she so emotional? It’s not like it mattered or anything.

Apparently _it_ mattered to her.

Dorothy didn’t bother her while she napped. Drifting off, she was both grateful and disappointed. Waking up, however, she was just flat-out disoriented. A word of advice: Don’t take a nap right after a pre-argument. What had she and Dorothy been talking about again?

Oh, yeah. Christmas.

Charlie clenched her fists before rolling over. Her eyes widened.

“I was wondering when you’d wake up. I was considering intervening.”

Dorothy was smiling down at her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry for falling asleep, Dor,” Charlie muttered, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. “I get tired when I’m worked up, apparently.”

Dorothy was quick to peck a kiss to her girlfriend’s lips. “No problem,” she said. “Hey, I have a surprise for you.”

Charlie perked up. “What kinda surprise?”

“A great surprise. Now c’mon.”

Dorothy leapt up from the bed, before grabbing hold of Charlie’s hand and guiding her across the bedroom.

They began to weave down the spiraling staircase, hands intertwined.

“Dor, what is it?” Charlie whined. “Why won’t you well me? What is-”

The pair reached the bottom floor. Dorothy let go of Charlie’s hand as the redhead broke into a huge smile, nearly stumbling on the next stair.

Charlie sprinted down the remaining steps. “A tree? Oh my god, you’re kidding. You actually got a tree? Okay, I’m starting to wonder who long I was asleep. Wow, I-”

“You can stop babbling, you know,” Dorothy said, although she was chuckling a moment later. She stood next to her beaming girlfriend at the base of the stairs.

“Wow, I just wanna like, hug it or something. Never mind. That's weird,” Charlie said. She took a few more steps forward, examining the scene. The tree was still bare, held up by an ornate metal stand. “Where'd you get the base?”

She could hear Dorothy snort from behind her, followed by another gentle laugh. “So I go through all this effort, and that's the first thing you notice?”

“No, sorry, I-”

“It’s _fine_. It actually wasn’t that much effort.” Dorothy’s footsteps were soft as she approached Charlie. “The stand was my dad’s. I left it behind last time I lived here.” Part of Charlie expected Dorothy to elaborate further, but wasn’t surprised when she didn’t.

There was a quick beat of silence.

“I’m sorry, Dor.”

Charlie turned to look over her shoulder, only to catch Dorothy cocking an eyebrow. “For what?”

“For asking for this. For getting so upset, even though there’s no way this could have been convenient. Don’t tell me it ‘wasn’t much effort’, because I know it was.”

Dorothy sighed.

Charlie turned around, closing in on Dorothy, who had been just a couple of feet away. “Don’t get me wrong,” Charlie said, speaking quickly. “I love it. So much. And I love you, also so much. It’s… it’s amazing. You’re amazing. I just feel bad. I shouldn’t have pressured you. I should have-”

Dorothy cut Charlie off with a small kiss, effectively shutting her up.

“It’s fine,” Dorothy muttered as she pulled away, reaching out a hand to cup her girlfriend’s cheek. “Really. Knowing it would make you happy, it’s worth it. And it’s only a tree. Although, I was thinking that we could do something else.”

“W- what else?” Charlie managed to sputter, officially in a Dorothy-induced trance.

Dorothy’s subtle smile widened. “Well,” she started, letting her hand drift away. “Presents. You know, nothing fancy. But I was thinking that we could eachother a gift. Something simple. Is there anything you want? That’s accessible, of course.”

Charlie’s eyes widened.

Again, Dorothy raised a brow. “Charlie? Are you alright?”

Shaking her head, Charlie sighed. “No, no, it’s alright. I’m alright. It’s just… this is so much. Like, it’s a lot. I know you keep saying it isn’t, but it is.”

Dorothy smirked in response, before pulling Charlie into a tight hug. “Just tell me what you want for Christmas,” she whispered in the other woman’s ear, probably as sensually as possible. Charlie was certain she was doing that on purpose.

Charlie was silent for another moment, before speaking in an undertone. “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.”

Dorothy pulled away, frowning. “What?”

Shaking her head, Charlie chuckled. “Sorry, forget I said that. Just thinking out loud,” she said.

“No,” Dorothy said. She was smiling again, just slightly. “Explain.”

Charlie huffed. “Are you sure? Really, it’s not important.”

Dorothy shook her head. “Nope. You’re gonna tell me. And, anyway, you started it,” she said.

“Fine, fine,” Charlie muttered. She let out another deep breath. “I was just thinking. When I was seven, my parents got me a hippopotamus for Christmas. A stuffed hippo, I mean. I stopped carrying it around everywhere with me when I was nine, probably, but dug it back up after they died. I kept it with me for a few years when I was on the run, but lost it when I had to ditch my apartment quickly. I was twenty-one, I think. Anyway, that’s my sob story of the day. Sorry.”

Dorothy, again, frowned. “Don’t be. That’s actually really sweet.”

Charlie pursed her lips. “No, just forget about it, please. I don’t know why I suggested it. I mean, I usually think about it around Christmas. It’s like a seasonal thing. But you can forget about it.”

“Charlie-”

“No, really. Forget about it,” Charlie said. “Let’s just forget about the presents. It feels too over the top, anyway. Maybe we could try decorating?”

* * *

Christmas morning came almost too soon for Charlie. They hadn’t decorated the tree, leaving it as naked as it had presumably been in the forest. Nonetheless, Dorothy and she had gathered other decorations from the nature surrounding their home. They’d even strung a garland, which hung over their bed.

Groaning as she came-to that morning, Charlie turned over. She usually woke to Dorothy’s arms around her, so it was a surprise to see that her girlfriend’s side of the bed was empty. She quirked a brow. The sun hadn’t even fully risen over the horizon.

“Someone’s up early,” she muttered.

Charlie proceeded to roll out of bed, throw on a pair of pants she’d had tailored after arriving in Oz, and march downstairs. If Dorothy was already up, something important may have been going on. They _were_ in the process of pulling together a revolt, afterall.

What she didn’t expect was to catch sight of her girlfriend sitting by the tree, nose in a book.

At the sound of Charlie’s footfalls, Dorothy was quick to close her book and look up. She had on a toothy grin.

“Charlie,” she said, rising to her feet. “I didn’t expect you to be up so early. I have a surprise.”

Charlie made her way over to Dorothy, giving her a quick peck on the lips. “Last time you had a ‘surprise’, it was the tree. So you have a track record of big surprises. I’m nervous, but also way too interested.”

Dorothy threw her head back in laughter. “Don’t be nervous, babe,” she said when she recovered. “Close your eyes.”

“Okay, except that only makes me more nervous.” Still, Charlie obeyed. Eyes shut, she began to

sway on the balls of her feet. She could hear Dorothy moving around the tree, a rustling noise, and then footsteps returning to where she stood.

There was a pause before Dorothy spoke. “Open your eyes.”

So, Charlie did as she was told. Her eyes widened in an instant.

“Dor? What is this?”

In front of her, Dorothy was holding out a bundle of _something_ wrapped in beige paper. It was tied together with a string. Despite its ambiguous appearance, Charlie knew Dorothy well enough to deduct what was being displayed: a gift.

“Dor…” she muttered. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t get you anything. I mean, I thought you weren’t going to get me anything, either. Not that that’s a reason not to get you anything, because you totally deserve a present. I just-”

“Babe,” Dorothy said with a chuckle. “It’s alright. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to get me anything. You’re all I need.”

That was all it took. Charlie was beaming from ear to ear immediately.

“So,” Dorothy continued. “Ready to open your gift?”

Charlie’s smile faltered slightly, some amount of guilt quickly returning. All the same, she nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

Dorothy held the bundle out. “Here.”

Charlie’s mouth fell open the moment her hands wrapped around the package. “Wait. Oh my god, it’s soft. You didn’t.” Dorothy smirked and nodded. “Oh my god, you _did _.”__

In the blink of an eye, the paper holding the present found its way to the floor. What was revealed underneath brought tears to Charlie’s eyes, even if she had been anticipating it.

A stuffed hippopotamus.

“How did you get this? Where did you get this?” Charlie said softly.

Dorothy wrapped her arms around her girlfriend’s waist, pulling her in so that the hippo was pressed against both of their chests. “An artist, a bit down the Yellow Brick Road. Remember that day I took a walk? I was setting this up. I had to pick it up while you were sleeping a couple of nights ago. Thankfully the artist was willing to stay up for me.” She looked down at the stuffed hippo. “She did a good job, didn’t she?”

The hippo was made of a metallic silver fabric, sewn together with dark grey thread. It had small ears, and was nearly a foot in length.

Charlie threw her arms around the other woman, the hippo lolling against Dorothy’s back. “Thank you so much,” she said. “You’re officially the sweetest person alive. I still wish I had a present for you, though.”

Dorothy pulled back, just slightly. She used one hand to brush a tear from Charlie’s cheek. “It’s like I said. Just having you is better than any present I could have gotten. Really.”

In that moment, Charlie experienced what she was certain was pure, boundless love.


End file.
